Certificate appointing William Lamb Smith as Consul General of the Republic of Paraguay in Melbourne, dated 18 February, 1902.

Asunción : Lit. L. Fresura & Co., [1902]. Lithographed certificate laid down on board, 400 x 500 mm, with manuscript entries recording the appointment of William Lamb Smith as the Republic of Paraguay’s Consul General in Melbourne; dated 18 February 1902, and with the full signatures of the President of the Republic of Paraguay, Andrés Héctor Carvallo (1862-1934, President 9 January 1902 – 25 November 1902) and Foreign Minister Manuel Domínguez (1868-1935) at the foot; paper seal now lost, heavily toned and with a number of surface marks; preserved within its early wooden frame, 470 x 570 mm.

Born in Renfrewshire, Scotland in 1846, Lamb Smith was a prominent auctioneer and land developer in the bayside suburbs of Melbourne. He was also Consul-General for Paraguay, a Moorabbin Shire Councillor (1899-1902), President of the Cheltenham Lawn Tennis Club, President of the Mentone Erica Literary, Musical and Dramatic Society, Captain of the Cheltenham Rifle Club, and a Justice of the Peace.

Lamb Smith would no doubt have received his certificate of appointment from El Presidente in scroll form; he then had it glued onto board and framed for display in his office. His consular document is an interesting relic of Paraguay-Australia relations at the beginning of Federation – especially in light of the links between the two nations that had only recently been forged in the 1890s with the establishment of the utopian socialist colony of New Australia and its offshoot, Cosme.

Provenance: Alexander and Annabella Sloane of Mulwala and Savernake Stations, southern New South Wales; thence by descent.